Your Kindness Matters: A Neighbor’s Story

By Kathy Castro, ALIVE! Service Navigator

Each day, a different family reaches out to ALIVE! for support. As a Service Navigator, I’ve learned the importance of asking one simple question as soon as they walk through an ALIVE! Food Hub:

“How are you doing?”

Just by asking them that simple question you get to hear each person’s story and the ripple effects. When I ask our clients that question, I can feel them experience a sense of comfort and the understanding that, at ALIVE!, they will be understood and supported without judgement. Their journey didn’t start with ALIVE! but a new path forward can.

It is the impact we can make on our clients – on our neighbors – that keeps me going each day, no matter how hard this work can be.

Not long after I started, an older couple came into our Del Ray Food Hub. The wife could barely walk—she held onto her husband and used a cane for support. When I asked her, “How are you doing today?” she opened up about her illness and how tired she felt. She started crying, and I sat with her, just listening.

Every month, they came back. She’d take a seat while her husband and I made sure they got what they needed, including food that worked with her dietary restrictions. When she got too sick to come, her husband still showed up for her. He’d tell me how she was doing, and we worked together to make sure everything was just right.

Last week, she walked back through our doors—stronger, healthier, and glowing. We hugged and cried, and she thanked me for the support we’d shown her and her husband during such a hard time.

This is why I love what I do. It’s about more than food—it’s about being there for our neighbors and building connections that matter.